Traffic alert: UH Manoa Spring 2009 graduation ceremonies

UH Mānoa‘s two Spring 2009 Commencement exercises are scheduled for this Saturday, May 16, at the Stan Sheriff Center. The undergraduate ceremony is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and should end around noon; the graduate ceremony is set for 3-5 p.m.

Some 2,300 students will earn degrees and certificates for the Spring semester and Summer session. More than 1,500 bachelor candidates are eligible to attend the undergraduate ceremony, while nearly 800 graduate degree candidates (master‘s and doctor‘s degrees and post-baccalaureate certificates in secondary education) may take part in the afternoon ceremony.

Anticipate slowed traffic and possible tie-ups near the University off-ramp area and on side streets leading to the campus.

Doors to the Stan Sheriff Center will open at 8 a.m. for the undergraduate ceremony and at 2 p.m. for the advanced degree ceremony. Both events are free and open to the public. No tickets are issued, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Balloons and strollers are not allowed inside the Stan Sheriff Center.

Free parking will be available in the parking structure, which will open at 6 a.m. Friends and family members may greet graduates following the ceremony on the football practice field (surnames A-L), the soccer practice field (M-T) and at the softball stadium (U-Z). Authorized lei vendors will be located in the areas.